UCLA Athletics’ first year in the Big Ten didn’t affect its ability to win conference – and national honors. Whether it was individual accolades or program banners, the 2024-2025 campaign was full of bright moments. Daily Bruin Sports shines a spotlight on the best moments from the year.

Gymnastics wins Big Ten championships
Hannah Westerhold, Daily Bruin Contributor

The chants from the crowd, coaches and teammates after Brooklyn Moors steps off the floor are almost as expected as the graduate student’s precise execution of her choreography.

But the judges never answered the chants. That is, until it mattered most.

UCLA headed to Ann Arbor on March 22, where Moors and junior Jordan Chiles brought UCLA’s inaugural Big Ten Championships to a poetic close, securing victory with a tandem of perfect scores. They weren’t the first Bruins to reach perfection that night – junior Ciena Alipio started the wave of 10s with the first perfect score of her career on beam.

But Michigan State, Minnesota and Michigan prevented a clean sweep for UCLA. Despite owning the Big Ten regular season title, the Bruins stood in second place for the first two rotations of the Big Ten championships – even after tying their season-high 49.350 on vault.

Heading to beam, UCLA needed to narrow the margin. And it delivered – recording five scores of 9.925 or higher. The Bruins notched a season-high beam total of 49.750, raising their old record by .125.

The Bruins approached the floor, still trailing the Spartans. Sophomore Katelyn Rosen led the rotation with a 9.875 mark, boosting the Bruins’ momentum. With each routine, UCLA matched or raised the previous mark.

UCLA’s 198.450 was over 1.000 above its season average and marked UCLA’s fourth-highest score in school history. The Bruins set a standard of excellence in their new conference, earning the highest team score in Big Ten championships history.

Men’s water polo wins NCAA championship
Una O’Farrell, Daily Bruin senior staff

UCLA men’s water polo entered the 2024 season with something to prove.

After securing a perfect preseason and conference record in 2023, MPSF and NCAA titles seemed inevitable for last year’s squad.

But after narrow one and two-point defeats in the MPSF semifinal and the NCAA final, respectively, the Bruins fell short.

With a revamped roster, UCLA entered 2024 with renewed potential. The return of veteran contributors and the arrival of Olympic-level talent positioned the team as a top contender from the outset.

Freshman attacker Ryder Dodd joined the team after competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics, where he and Team USA won bronze. Redshirt junior attacker Chase Dodd also returned to the roster after taking the 2023 season off to train with the national team and compete in the Olympics.

But after a close loss in the 2024 MPSF final, it seemed the Bruins would repeat history.

But this time, UCLA finished the job.

​​The Bruins defeated USC 11-8 in the NCAA championship game at Stanford’s Avery Aquatic Center, clinching their 13th national title in program history and UCLA’s 124th NCAA championship overall.

The victory also marked coach Adam Wright’s fifth NCAA championship with the men’s program and his second national title in the 2024 calendar year, having led the women’s team to a championship in May.

Men’s tennis wins Big Ten tournament title
Chloe Agas, Daily Bruin Staff

Ohio State hadn’t lost since 2022 Big Ten title match.

Just a few weeks before the 2025 conference title contest, the Bruins fell to the Buckeyes in a 4-0 sweep on the latter’s home courts. But instead of breaking them, the loss became a turning point as they finished out the season.

Riding a seven-match winning streak and seeded at No. 2 for the Big Ten tournament, coach Billy Martin’s squad found themselves back on the red and black courts in Columbus – in a battle for the program’s first Big Ten title.

With the April 27 match tied at 3-3, senior and captain Alexander Hoogmartens delivered a three-set win against Jack Anthrop, handing the Buckeye his first loss since Feb. 14. All eyes turned to Emon van Loben Sels and Buckeye Alexander Bernard facing off in the deciding match.

The Bruins – who suffered defeat earlier in the season – now had a chance to write a new ending. All of the losses, doubts and close calls stacked up as van Loben Sels carried a potential Big Ten title for the Bruins on his shoulders.

The redshirt sophomore entered this year with just eight singles match appearances from the 2023-24 season. He finished the 2024-25 season with 28 match appearances – 17 on court two – and a 14-4 singles record.

Van Loben Sels stepped up to the baseline to serve for the match point. Both players shuffled at the net, as both teams stood on either side, spectating the ongoing rally. Then, Bernard struck a forehand that went out of bounds upwards into the air.

And in that moment – time stood still.

After a three-and-a half hour battle, van Loben Sels dropped his racket, raised his fists and collapsed to the ground as his teammates surrounded him and cheered.

In their first ever appearance at the tournament, they won it all.

Now, the team that began the season as underdogs hoisted the trophy.

Women’s basketball makes first Final Four since 1978
Ava Abrishamchian, Daily Bruin Staff

UCLA women’s basketball etched itself into Westwood’s history books in a year filled with both milestones and heartbreak.

Under coach Cori Close’s leadership, the Bruins roared through their inaugural Big Ten season, rattled off 23 straight wins and held the No. 1 national ranking for 12 weeks – both program records.

However, claiming the Big Ten tournament title was not the Bruins’ only historic feat.

It was UCLA’s Final Four appearance – the school’s first during the NCAA era – that will define the legacy of the 2024-2025 squad.

The Bruins’ tournament run was powered by a deep bench, the interior dominance of junior center and 2025 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Lauren Betts, the leadership of junior guard Kiki Rice, and the breakout performances of transfers like Timea Gardiner and Janiah Barker.

In the Elite Eight, UCLA avenged its 2024 March Madness loss to LSU with a 72-65 win, showcasing poise and grit when it mattered most. It was junior guard Gabriela Jaquez who stepped up for the Bruins, shooting 80% from beyond the arc to help punch the team’s ticket to Tampa.

But a dynasty – led by the soon-to-be No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft Paige Bueckers – awaited UCLA in Florida. UConn, under the purview of coaching legend Geno Auriemma, dismantled the top-seeded Bruins 85-51 in a semifinal that hurt to watch. It was the largest loss in Final Four history and a brutal punctuation on an otherwise extraordinary campaign.

Still, the Bruins didn’t let the scoreboard define the team’s legacy. And they shouldn’t.

The season was about more than one night in March. It was about the program rising to the occasion and rewriting its own ceilings. Though it left Tampa without a trophy, UCLA set a new standard for itself – a standard it will undoubtedly be looking to exceed next year.

Men’s tennis defeats USC in super regional
Kai Dizon, Daily Bruin Senior Staff

It wasn’t just rough sailing for coach Billy Martin’s relatively young and inexperienced crew to begin 2025.

It was a nosedive.

UCLA’s 4-3 Feb. 22 loss to USC completed an early four-match losing streak and a 2-6 start to the 2025 campaign – UCLA’s worst ever under Martin.

But the Bruins turned things around in conference play, firing off six straight wins before heading to the other side of Los Angeles.

With UCLA up 3-2 April 1 at David X. Marks Tennis Stadium, it seemed all but certain that the Bruins would get their revenge after falling in Westwood.

Instead, the Trojans took the final two singles courts, defeating the Bruins 4-3 yet again.

However, after a 4-0 loss to Ohio State the following match, UCLA returned to where they were before USC – the win column.

The Bruins rattled off five more wins to close out the regular season, won three straight in the Big Ten tournament – including a 4-3 upset of the No. 1 seed Buckeyes in Columbus to secure the conference crown – and after narrowly missing out on hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, secured a spot at super regional after upsetting No. 11 seed California in Berkeley.

For the third time that season, the Bruins had a date with the Trojans – this time, hosting their first-ever super regional at the Los Angeles Tennis Center with a chance to reach the NCAA quarterfinals for the first time since 2018.

This time, UCLA wouldn’t disappoint.

Despite dropping the doubles point on a court-three tiebreaker, the Bruins stormed back with four wins in singles.

And with the match tied at 3-3, sophomore Spencer Johnson – who missed the two previous crosstown bouts due to injury – delivered the final blow, defeating Volodymyr Iakubenko 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-4 and securing UCLA its spot in Waco, Texas.

Women’s basketball defeats USC in Big Ten finals
Noah Massey, Daily Bruin staff

Only one team had managed to best an otherwise undefeated Bruin squad – it’s crosstown rival.

And they had already done it twice.

To make matters worse, USC stole the Big Ten regular season title in its final matchup with UCLA at Pauley Pavilion.

So when the Bruins trailed by 13 points in the third quarter of the Big Ten tournament championship, it appeared that the Trojans would solidify themselves as the Bruins’ Achilles’ heel.

In their two victories, the Trojans strung together lengthy fourth-quarter scoring runs to extinguish the Bruins’ chances of emerging triumphant.

This time, it was the Bruins who went on a late run.

UCLA outscored USC 20-13 in the fourth quarter, turning a two-point deficit at the start of the fourth into a five-point advantage.

The Bruin defense clamped down on the Trojan offense, limiting guard JuJu Watkins to nine fourth quarter points.

UCLA held on to its narrow lead for the remainder of the contest to win the Big Ten tournament in its inaugural season – its first conference tournament victory since 2006.

With the victory over the Trojans boosting their resume, the Bruins earned the top seed in the NCAA tournament and went on to make a run to the Final Four – their deepest tournament run in program history.

Men’s basketball and football hit transfer jackpot
Ira Gorawara, Daily Bruin senior staff

If college sports had a version of free agency, UCLA played it like the Los Angeles Lakers.

Because by the end of the respective transfer portal windows, both the Rose Bowl and Pauley Pavilion had new headliners.

DeShaun Foster – the charismatic leader, culture-setter and technical maestro that he is – landed Nico Iamaleava, the top prospect in the portal and highest-ranked quarterback in program history. A Downey, California, local, Iamaleava ensured his homecoming was both a reunion and a revival.

For him, a return to roots. For Westwood, a jolt of swagger, a swelling sense of renewal and a beast under center.

But the Bruins didn’t stop there. Nico Iamaleava’s younger brother, Madden Iamaleava, joined him from Arkansas, while sophomore playmakers like wide receiver Mikey Matthews and running back Jaivian Thomas turned UCLA’s backfield and pass catching room into an engine potentially built for prime time.

Meanwhile, the no-nonsense mind of Mick Cronin spared no hesitation in reshaping his roster.

In his biggest pull, Cronin also enticed the best player in the transfer portal to Westwood. Donovan Dent – the 2024-2025 Mountain West Player of the Year who averaged 20.4 points a game through the year – will take over the now-departed Dylan Andrews, whose impact had all but faded by season’s end.

And after helping his team to the Big Ten regular season championship, 6-foot-11 sophomore forward/center Xavier Booker – once a top-20 recruit – will be the imposing presence Cronin lost with center Aday Mara’s departure.

The Bruins’ unflinching architect also created homes for senior guard Jamar Brown, who can create shots at will, and junior center Steven Jamerson II.

So in an era of frequent roster turnover and rapid reinvention, UCLA dominated the portal.

Two major programs, two rebuilds and one overarching warning to the rest of the Big Ten: Westwood’s reloaded.

Gymnastics places second at Final Four
Hannah Westerhold, Daily Bruin contributor

Fourth time’s the charm for UCLA when it comes to its former Pac-12 rival.

After the Bruins took last place at their Jan. 4 season opener, they conquered every squad on the road to the national championships – except for one familiar foe.

Utah defeated UCLA three times in the 2025 season – at its regular season dual meet, the second round of the regional and at the regional final. Including the 2025 defeats, the Red Rocks dominated every dual meet for the past six years.

For the Bruins, beating the Red Rocks seems to be a key ingredient for postseason success – 2019 marked the last time UCLA defeated Utah in a dual meet and the last time they reached the NCAA Final Four.

While the Bruins didn’t clinch the 2025 regular season win, a second-place finish in the regional final launched the No. 5 seed to the national championships in Fort Worth, Texas – giving UCLA a fourth chance at redemption April 19.

UCLA started on floor – their highest nationally ranked event – tying No. 2 seed Oklahoma for the lead, with No. 4 seed Utah and No. 7 seed Missouri not far behind. The Bruins then moved to the vault, where they dropped to second place.

Meanwhile, the Red Rocks’ meet took a turn for the worse. An uncharacteristic fall from senior Grace McCallum widened the margin between the Bruins in second and the Red Rocks in third. With Utah out of contention, it was between UCLA and Oklahoma for the national title.

UCLA ended on beam, with .3375 standing between them and the lead. Seniors Emily Lee and Emma Malabuyo bookended the rotation with marks higher than 9.900, but the Bruins still counted their lowest beam total since March 2. Oklahoma ended on bars with their lowest event total since Jan. 24 – but it was not enough for a UCLA victory.

Even though the Bruins fell short of the national title, the squad jumped 15 spots from their national finish last season. UCLA also landed its best finish since 2018, ending its season of redemption on a positive note.